I know this is a bad way to start off my new round of blog posts, but after seeing it I had to show it. The following series of pictures has to be the saddest thing I have ever seen in a video game:

Ok, I see a troll's dead body under a bridge, no big deal - right?

BUT LOOK AT THE NOTE (Pages:1 and 2) FOUND ON HIS BODY!!

This is from the game Elder Scrolls: Oblivion for XBOX 360. I'll write more about the game after I play through it more, but suffice it to say it is one of the best ever made. Don't agree with me? Well, nearly every single game reviewer in the country is going crazy over this game.

Oh yeah, GO GATORS - NATIONAL CHAMPS!

I've got a fresh selection of interesting links for your viewing pleasure:

Wired magazine has a great article on the story behind the success of Firefox.

A study was recently completed which was able to map the sexual network of an entire high school. While the article is interesting, the best part has to be the graphic showing the results. I have made my own version of said graphic with comments added.

Finally, I have a collection of two weathermen, both outstanding at what they do:

This poor guy, a first-time weatherman at a college television station, is so awkward and nervous that I cannot sit through this video in its entirety. It becomes physically painful to watch.

On the complete other side of the spectrum, we have Mark Mathis, former weatherman for a local Fox affiliate who was recently fired after going into rehab for alcoholism. Apparently, he had a sort of Howard Stern effect on television viewers - they either really loved him or really hated him, and people on both sides of the fence tuned in just to see what he would do next.

This site allows you to play any NES game you wish (as well as some Sega, Gameboy, and Arcade games) via your web-browser. Although there is no sound, its an interesting little walk down memory lane, and it sure beats trying to track down the ROMs on pirate sites. Enjoy!

Loveline, the syndicated radio show about sex, love, and anything else has been one of my favorites for years. Helmed by comedian Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew Pinsky, Loveline is one of the most interesting and entertaining shows - radio or otherwise, currently on the air. Thanks to Loveline I have learned more about psychology, human nature, and Adam Carolla's masturabatory habits than I could have from anywhere else.

While Dr. Drew plays the straight man with all the answers, Adam is the one who drives the show, using his lightning fast wit and keen sense of humor to make it both educational and entertaining. Adam's greatest talent is his ability to go on wild tangents and rants which can sometimes take the majority of the show to complete.

I now download episodes from the internet, which come with the commercials removed, making listening that much more enjoyable. One of my favorite websites devoted to the show is The Loveline Companion (it is temporarily down due to it exceeding its bandwidth limit) which contains message boards, clips, and links to FTP sites where one can find episodes online.

Another great Loveline website is the Loveline Database, which is a exhaustive collection of information on past episodes and guests.

I have collected some of my favorite clips from the past couple of years for your downloading pleasure:

Clip 1 - This first clip is with guest David Alan Grier, and is indicative of the style of the show. Some of the people who call in are total idiots, and the questions they ask really make me question the validity of the US educational system.

Clip 2 - This clip is probably one of the funniest moments in Loveline history. It is quite long, so hang in there - the payoff is more than worth it.

This is a flash cartoon that Michael Narren, one of the fans over at the Loveline Companion made, based on a recurring character that Adam has created. It uses an actual clip from the show for inspiration (the sound effects are added). Go to Michael's site for more of his flash creations.

Most of you out there in cyberspace are aware of user-submitted news sites like Fark, where people submit links to the editors of the site - who then select the most interesting ones to actually post on the web. Don't get me wrong, I love these types of sites, but I don't like the fact that its the editors who decide what links to feature.

Enter digg, a site which combines the format of Fark with the magic of democracy. Users submit links, which are then posted to the site under a variety of different categories. People who find a link that they enjoy can essentially vote for it by "digging" the story. Links that make it to the front page are the ones which have the most digs in each category. Abuse is curtailed by requiring users to sign up if they want to actually participate in voting for and submitting stories.

Having just signed up for the site, my profile is not too prolific, but by viewing someone's profile you can see what links they have submitted and which ones they find interesting.

Check it out!

P.S. - Check out Neil's blog for the 3rd wrestling match.

Match 2 of the New Year's Wrestlefest is now up on Neil's blog: an epic battle between a Jewish cowboy and a Doctor whose mortal enemy happens to be cowboys of the Jewish persuasion. When I say epic I mean it, this match does not end....it just simply goes on forever. Listen for Troy's (aka Dusty Rhodes, aka The American Dream) brilliant commentary during the event.

In a recent article in Wired magazine, Daniel Terdiman highlights the bizarre effects gaming can have on one's life, particularly when the line between fantasy and reality becomes blurred. He describes several instances in which gamers have trouble separating real life from their games.

After many years of gaming, I have had my share of bizarre experiences.

The most vivid of these occurred last year, when I was living on campus - in dorms that happened to be right across from the baseball team's practice area. I had a couple of hours to kill in between classes and decided to play a couple of rounds of America's Army, the super-realistic FPS designed by the Army themselves as a recruiting tool for young, impressionable youths. Turning down the lights and donning my trusty headphones, I sat down, intent on killing some terrorist scum. Cut to several hours and many deaths later, I glanced at the clock and realized it was almost time for class. Hurrying out of the door into the blinding sunlight, I am startled by several loud, metallic bangs - one after another. Convinced that I am taking fire from a unknown location, I dove behind some cover and waited. Then it hit me - this is real life, those were aluminum bats hitting practice balls over in the batting cages, and I am an idiot. Glancing around to make sure that no one saw my masterful dive into the bushes, I hurried to class with my tail between my legs.

Other, less embarrassing stories include:

• Wondering if there is a redeemer on the top of Century Tower, because if campus was a map in Unreal Tournament 2004 that's obviously where they would have put it.
• Thinking that the people direct-connecting on their NEXTELs are really Combine soldiers from Half-Life 2.
• Looking down on the countryside from the window seat of a 727, thinking that I could have designed a much better city.
• Scoping out good skateboarding spots... and wondering how many points I could rack up if I skated them in Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
• Thinking that the church that I attend back home would make an awesome map in Counterstrike.
• When playing Doom III in the middle of the night, my brother comes into my room and yells "ITS ONLY A GAME, YOU DON'T HAVE TO SCREAM SO MUCH!"

Ok, maybe less embarrassing is not the correct choice of words.

It's official... G4 is finally dropping the TechTV in their title, and have finally succeeded in eliminating any resemblance that it had with the channel they "acquired" in 2004. It's useless to spin my wheels complaining about what Comcast did to our beloved TechTV, so I will just end with a timely quote on the situation from Gabe over at Penny Arcade:

I think that the idea of a television channel that focuses on videogames and technology is an exciting one. Obviously there is a lot of potential for some quality shows on a channel like that. I think that’s why people dislike G4 so much. It’s not just because the stuff they make is so bad. There are plenty of bad television shows on every channel. It’s the fact that they are wasting all that potential, and that’s what is so disappointing.